To Listen Is To Learn
by VirgoMaiden
Summary: I was tagged for the iPod challenge. Kendra/Trevor, Dasey, Lizwin, divorced! Nora and Dennis, Marti, Sheldon, and Emily all follow.
1. ten originals

**A/N: **Here's the dealio, yo: If you get tagged, you have to write a short fic about ten random songs. Put your respective music player on shuffle, and write a story to whatever song comes up. Sound easy? It should. Except you also have to write the story in the span of the song you are writing about.

I was tagged by** Jeni27**. I shall not moan about revenge because I already have.

**I tag: **

**Frogster**

**Olafpriol**

**SevenMinutesToMidnight**

and

**Arnoldslove **(sorry)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own LWD

--

**1. "Here (In Your Arms)" by Hellogoodbye**

He was an escape for her. A person to go to when she needed to forget the social dramas of the school day. When she needed to forget what had happened to her that day.

He was good at being an escape, too. Probably because no one suspected it. Him, the class outcast, a loner by choice, a _punk_, had _nothing_ to do with her and her prep "friends" on a regular basis. Her, the cream of the social crop. She was the one who usually looked down on people like _him_.

But when they were together, she felt like it was the only time she could be herself. He could say how he enjoyed watching Oprah, and she would tell him how she really _did _have an interest in school, and wasn't just going at it to get into Casey McDonald's stepbrother's pants.

The only place she felt that she belonged was in his arms.

--

**2. "It Ends Tonight" by The All-American Rejects**

Slamming of doors. Yells.

"Don't walk away from me!" she yelled, tearing into the room after him.

He was facing away from her. "I am," he said simply. "Deal with it."

"You're such a _coward_," she spat. "Running away all the time. Stand up for yourself for once!"

"So what, I can listen to you yell and moan for a few hours?" Dennis yelled, turning on her. "No thanks."

"Well then, what would you rather be doing?"

"Being at work so I can get away from _you!_"

She glared at him. "And what about the kids, huh?" she asked. "They think that you enjoy work more than being at home, here, with them!"

"Then tell them that I can't take it any more!" he yelled, and threw open his dresser door, and she realized where they were: their room.

"I'm leaving!" he shouted. "For good this time!"

She was speechless for a second before finally screaming "Good riddance!"

:

_It's over_,Casey thought. _Really over_.

--

**3. "Can't Take It," by The All-American Rejects**

It infuriated her, the way that he walked around like he owned the place. She told it to him every day.

"I'm so sick of this!" she would yell. But it only came out as "Der-ek!", so he was never alarmed.

She always watched him from the back, which is where she belonged, she supposed.

"Case, stay home; we don't want to alert the student body by arriving at the party together."

She always thought that it would be temporary, his restlessness. Dating a girl behind the curtain. Making sure that they weren't scorned for it when – _if _they came out of it together.

She threw his ring onto his bed and his jacket onto the floor.

_I can't take it. It's over._

--

**4. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve**

The first place that he brought her to was an orchestra's opening night performance at the Center.

She was surprised, to say the least. He hadn't seemed like much of a classical music person. More of the head banging type.

It was her first night out since the prom, her first night out since Sheldon had moved. She missed him so much, although she wasn't sure if it was because she loved him or she missed loving him.

_You're free_, she thought. _You can go out with any guy you want. He can go out with any girl you want. Not that the other would know_

Free. That's what she should be. And here she was, sitting next to a guy who was totally available and that cleaned up really well. She could be enjoying the fact that his arm was around her, that he was focused on the front, on the orchestra, and that he had been really nice to her that night.

_I did want him to ask me out_, she thought. _Before Sheldon, I really wanted him to take me out._

So here she was, wish granted. But she felt like she was betraying him. Sheldon.

Was she? He had moved. She had suspected something like that would happen. And, how many times had she wanted to be free of the goof?

She clapped unenthusiastically at the end of one of the songs. It was a bittersweet night.

--

**5. "Better Than Me" by Hinder**

He said it often. That he wasn't good enough. And, sometimes, he would believe it. He had lied to her so often in the early stages of the relationship. And he usually felt a helpless feeling when he saw her with her new boyfriend: Max, Sam… he had even had suspicions about Trevor for a bit as well.

He had pictures of the two of them, all right. Candid shots, from their vacations as a family.

A _family_.

The thing that stopped him from smelling her hair, the thing that stopped him from acting nice to her, even though he was really capable of it.

She didn't think that he remembered, but he did. The one-time-thing, at the wedding rehearsal, before she had known he was him. Kissed him. Laughed with him. Smiled at him.

He was better than all of this moaning and griping, alright. Much better than this.

--

**6. "Paper Bag" by Anna Nalick**

She was aware of how pretty Casey was. She was reminded every time she saw her new boyfriend, if it was before the divorce, or after they moved in with the Venturis.

She was talked about often in the family. Casey, not her. Edwin was the same with Derek. The oldest siblings got all of the trimmings while the younger two, the "spares," got the leftovers.

The leftover cool. Leftover looks. Leftover talents. Leftover names.

So how lame were they? She had to remind herself every time she saw herself in the mirror, that when she was out of the house, things would be different. She would be different. Prettier, happier. She and Edwin both.

They hid themselves for now, but eventually they would be able to out shine even Derek and Casey's scandals.

--

**7. "Dig It," by the D-Tent Boys**

Digging at old sores is what happened when _she_ was around.

She was constantly reminded of her old relationship with Derek and how that had ended so abruptly, with him leaving her for… Well, that was just it. He didn't leave her for anyone.

Anyone that would admit it, at least.

She knew all too well how Casey pronounced Derek's name when she was irritated with him. How Derek smirked at Casey when he thought she was being ridiculous.

How Derek looked at Casey when he thought that she wasn't looking.

It was like digging up a part of her past that she'd rather remain buried, being in the same class as them for their senior year.

She couldn't hide from it.

"_He's never acted like this way around a girl before_."

"_I thought that they hated each other!"_

"_Opposites attract_."

"_There is a thin line between hate and love_," a guy said, and she would have loved to hit him.

"They could have left me out of this," Kendra muttered as she watched another fight between the two.

--

**8. "Silence" by Aly and AJ**

What wasn't said probably made the relationship what it was.

He didn't listen to her for that first year. Didn't listen to anyone, really. But that didn't stop her, obviously. She still nagged him every day. Be nice to Edwin, put away your own dishes.

What she was trying to convey to him was much more than what was heard : _I love you. You can do so much. You're a good big brother. I need you more than you'll ever know._

Not like she'd ever admit it.

Although their relationship was anything but silent, there was so much unsaid to him.

Little did she know, there was much that was unsaid to her as well.

--

**9. "Life After You" by Brie Larson**

She had moped around after the break-up a lot. An emotional roller coaster, that's what she was. Up one minute and needing distractions much like Derek, down the next and choosing to wallow in her old memories with Max.

She slowly got over it, though; stopped apologizing for so many things. Was the first on the dance floor and the last off. Freedom had never been so sweet.

She tried to keep her feelings off the cheerleading court with Amy, and it worked out for the most part. Gradually, she got out. Got a life. Started seeing Noel. And finally had the kind of life that she could be proud of. Forget games or popularity.

Life after him was sweet.

--

**10. "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles**

Her life was out of this world and could only be described best by the song that her dad liked so much, "Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds."

Or at least, it was for Marti. She saw what she wanted. If she felt uncomfortable with her skin, she changed it. And did so, frequently. A cat one day and invisible the next. She felt like everything would be okay if she was at home, where she could be as crazy as she wanted.

It was a dream in comparison to school, where they treated her like a freak. Wearing all purple and car ears. Carrying around a wand. Talking to Daphne.

The bullying had started off innocent enough, during lunch, when all of the other children decided to throw strawberries at her.

She didn't tell.

Being at home with Derek and Casey and Lizzie and Edwin was paradise.

Because they loved her for her grand imagination.

--

**A/N:** I wrote too many, so if you want another one that I wrote (one Lizwin and one Dasey) you can tell me in the review.

Story 1: Kendra/Trevor

2: Nora/Dennis divorce

3: Casey/Derek break-up

4: Emily/Sheldon/Trevor triangle

5: Angsty!Derek, one sided Derek/Casey

6: Angsty!Edwin and Lizzie, implied Lizwin

7: Implied Dasey

8: Derek/Casey, one sided

9: Casey/Max break-up, implied Noel/Casey

10: bullied!Marti


	2. extras

**Disclaimah: **I do not own LWD or even the titles of the songs. Obviously. If I did, I wouldn't need this disclaimer, now would I?

"**Hello Beautiful"**

She was so much more beautiful than the other girls at the college.

He missed her so much. Her going to the states for a few years. Enviornmenal sciences is what she was taking, so she could save the world. He was taking business.

First year, he studied abroad. France.

Derek had loved France and all of the girls, but Edwin had found it lacking. He could have flown all over the world (and with the exchange program at school, he almost did), but was never satisfied.

Because none of the girls had the eyes that Lizzie did.

--

"**I Got Nerve"**

She was arguably the first one to successfully shake up Derek Venturi's reign. She faced him, every day in front of the biology room. Fighting him made her feel alive. Like her blood had been replaced with electricity.

No topic was off-limits when they fought. She knew him, knew what he was like, but still wasn't afraid of him.

She stood up for the little people, usually. Edwin and Lizzie and occasinally George.

She knew where she stood with him, and if she could change him even a little, she would be satisfied.

Casey McDonald was stronger than the average hockey player. And had feelings for one of the biggest.

--

**A/N:** It's probably obvious to some who the artist is, so please don't mock me.


End file.
